About Carl

Carl V. Rossi was born in Warwick, Rhode Island.

Carl has attended CCRI, URI, and Brandeis University. He even graduated from a couple of them.

Carl is proud to write with Christopher Mensel, and is currently shopping scripts around Shakeytown.

About the Site

This site, in 5 years, has helped over 160 filmmakers.

The most requested script is "Breakdown".

The shorts I have seen the most are the different versions of "Flinch", "Hands Off!", and "Breakdown".

The Tiny Penguin production of "Hands Off!" allowed me to attend Dragon*Con 2010 and speak on a filmmaker's panel. I met some great people there including the Dragon*Con Film Festival Director, Matthew Foster, and John Wardlaw, Writer/Director of "The Bolt Who Saved Christmas". Matthew Foster's festival programming reflected his impeccable taste. I've been to a few film festivals, and this is the only one I can say, I enjoyed every film I saw. In private conversations with Mr. Foster, I found that his love and opinion of movies rivaled and surpassed my own. I also can't say enough about his attempt to bring quality presentations of the films to the audience. He is very aware that you are watching films in a hotel and not in a movie theater and this is the finest presentation I've seen of "Hands Off!" yet. And I've seen it in two actual movie theaters. If you have any chance at all, you must see the films shown at Dragon*Con.

Tiny Penguin's production of "Winner" remains popular, it was recently shown at The University of Rhode Island at the Harrington School of Communication. It won the top spot in the Visualizations film fest there a couple of years ago.

Biography
Scripts
FAQ
Contact

The Rules

These are free scripts. You may download them to read and/or produce. To produce them, there is a catch, but in the end, the requirements for production aren't that big a deal. You'll see when you read them below.

Some ask, why give them away for free? A relative of mine said, "Don't give them away. Charge something!" Hogwash. I'll tell you why they're free. Because I was once a student, and I was once broke and wanted short scripts to film. Well, I'm still broke, but these are scripts I'll probably never get around to making and some were experiments in writing that I just had to try, but had no intention of directing. My dusty library is your gain. Keep coming back, because I have scripts that are 15 years old in old file formats that I'll try to convert to standard screenplay format.

Requirements for production:
1. Tell me you're doing it. Contact me through the contact page and give me a shout that you're making the short.

2. Notify me of any awards. I don't care if you come in third in the San Dimas HS, A/V Club Film Fest. Let me know about any award or honorable mention you get.

3. My credit on the film MUST read: Screenplay by Carl V. Rossi. There is another upstanding playwright out there named Carl A. Rossi and I wish to avoid confusion. Let's not have people attack him about my scripts, shall we?

4. If your short film will be included on a DVD compilation of shorts or standalone, you must contact me about signing a release form. This form will legally protect you in case I get hit by a bus and my greedy family decides to sue. They probably wouldn't, but I've a cousin who is a total bitch. Just kidding, but you should protect yourself anyway.
This form can be found here . Read more about it on the FAQ page.

5. If you post the short on YouTube, Google, or Vimeo throw me the link. I'd like to check it out. (Not required, but nice.)

6. These scripts are not public domain , but you are free to use them as you like. Like a play by Shakespeare, you can direct it any way you want, but you can't claim you wrote Hamlet. Same here. Don't slap your name on the screenwriting credit and be sure to note that these scripts have been registered with the WGA.

7. Lastly, if you have any questions, or if you would like to write your own script based on one of these, read the FAQ.

Oh, and lastly, lastly... If you 'make it'? Remember me. My day job blows.

The Scripts

A Life in the Future
See a whole new future with the miracle of cryonics!

An Adult Woman
Who owns your body?

Asmara, Eritrea
Said hopes to transform Eritrea's primary export from agriculture to oil, but you are seen differently when you're not a big player in the Middle-East.

Autumn
Tom has amnesia and blood on his hands.

Before Heaven
A young man, a young woman, and forbidden love.

Breakdown
When their car overheats a young man and a young woman share some truth.

Broken
Sometimes nightmares look like dreams.

The Dangerous Type
A CIA operative rescues her boyfriend.

A Dream of Late
A woman accuses her lover of no longer loving her.

Flinch
A husband and wife, but who stereotypes who?

Getting Benefits
Sometimes the only option is a bad one.

Gun, Meet Medicine
A man's tolerance to his pain medication is so high, there's no where else to go.

Hands Off!
An angel visits John about how he spends his time online.

Having a Laugh
Elizabeth is the president of The Chuckle Network, and she knows what viewers want.

How Filmmakers See the World
A rumination on the visual artistic mind.

Jurisdiction in Rem
Money can be arrested. Who knew?

Meat
Two policemen from two different towns help in the search for a little girl.

Miss America
A young woman figures out how to 'make it' in America.

Pitstop
When you have to go, you have to go.

Polaris
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid."

A Quiet Place to Rest
Penelope finds the only place she can sleep is the cemetery.

Sensuous
At a dinner party, the hosts cruelly tease their guests.

Sex Kick
A couple dreams of making it rich online.

A Sound Death
Penelope is visited by a man who is being relentlessly haunted.

The Straw
Mardy kills her abusive husband. Now what?

The Sun Girl
Can someone marginalized make a difference?

Interview With the Tenant
Jennifer meets her landlady.

The Pap
Kevin joins the paparazzi in taking photos of the latest starlet.

The Seat of Clark County
Sometimes you just don't have chemistry.

Thirst
A woman thirsts for more of what life promised her.

Train Wreck
Roger is directing the musical, Emancipation!, and it may well be the worst production in the history of mankind. And offensive.

Walking Through the Door
A woman serves her husband dinner, but there's an elephant in the room.

Winner
A young man seeks divine help to win the lottery.

For convenience:
Download a zip of all 33 scripts here.

Biography
Scripts
FAQ
Contact

Actual Questions I've Been Asked

1. Why did you give up your dream?
I didn't give up my dream. I have many projects underway, and I have a very fruitful working relationship with my writing partner, Christopher Mensel, and Tiny Penguin Films.
2. I love your script, but I have a great idea that I want to add to it. Can I?
I encourage it. I know I don't have twenty pieces of gold on this site. Actually it's nineteen now... But if you feel you can improve the short, you are welcome to change the short to suit your needs. However, I ask that I don't get blamed or praised for your changes. In this situation, I suggest that you change the credits to read:
Story by
Carl V. Rossi

Screenplay by
Your Name Here and Carl V. Rossi
3. Are there any scripts that haven't been made? I want to do one, but I want to pick one that hasn't been done.
Yes, there are some that haven't been requested or made. I'm not going to tell you which, so just pick a short that inspires you and make it.
4. Can I animate the script?
You can make the movie any way that you want to. I love movies and I have no preference as to how you express yourself in your work.
5. Will you write me an original script?
No. I am currently juggling 4 - 5 projects, I will not have the time to write you a screenplay. The forthcoming new scripts to this site are plotted and/or written already.
6. Where did the scripts go?
They went away for a little while and now they're back. The site may still be prone to small outages, but I expect better stability these days.
7. What's the deal with release forms? When do I need to get a copy?
Let's look at two scenarios:

1: You make it HUGE. You're the director of the reboot of Batman. As a DVD extra, Warner Bros says, "Let's put your shorts on the disc." You will need a release from me. WB won't put it on there without one.

2: Though it's possible you will make it huge, in the near future it's more likely you could be on a DVD of shorts, or perhaps you put the short on Netflix, or you land the short in a 30 min block of shorts on IFC. You will need a release from me before any of these can happen.

But you want to submit your film to film fests, post on youtube/vimeo, or burn to DVD to use as a calling card? No release needed. The fests will have you sign something that protects them by stating that you have taken care of all the legalities of the short, music licenses, etc. You'll have no problem from me, because we're already square. You fulfilled your obligation to me by e-mailing me. And YouTube, Vimeo, and/or a producer watching your film doesn't give two poops about a release form from me.

8. What is the release form process?
1: Wait until you need a form. Don't waste our time.
2: Print and fill out this form for each screenplay for which you would like to have a release. Fill out every empty field except for my signature and date block.
3: Mail it to me.
4: I will then sign and send copies back to you for your records.

Questions I Think You Have

1. Do you want a copy of the DVD/Film when I finish?
No. You may give me the link to your movie or send me a DVD copy of your movie if you would like, and people have, but it isn't necessary.
2. Why is the site so simple looking?
I have a very generous friend who is hosting carlrossi.com and I promised I would have a low-bandwidth site. I'm not a web designer, but I also believe in the philosophy of keeping it simple, fast, and focused on delivery of content. You may have noticed that the site changed recently. I long wanted to change the site for mobile users, and for desktop users. I think the jquery library and associated style sheets help me accomplish this, and I recommend you google it, if you make your own website. I rather like it.
3. Do you think everything you write is good?
No. And especially not on here. When I came up with the idea to give away free scripts, I milled my old scripts that I wrote for writing assignments while at grad school. Gun Meet Medicine is one such script. The assignment was write a short scene involving a gun and a bottle of pills. Frankly, I'm not fond of that exercise. A gun and a bottle of pills are such loaded props, the writer is pretty limited in what they can do. If I were to give the same assignment, I would choose a much better prop, for example, a baseball cap. It's specific, but also allows the writer countless possibilities. If it's okay for me to continue to ramble, a recent 48 hour film project here in Providence featured the prop, "A coffee pot." That's not too bad, but the required character had to be an addict. So I predicted that most shorts would involve a coffee addict. Which stinks. So my script, "The Good Times" opens like this:

INT. HOUSE. - MORNING
A coffee pot shatters.

But, anyway, to complete my thought, the scripts that began as exercises are lacking, and I know full-well they are. The remaining scripts are comprised of scripts I planned to film for myself (Like "The Dangerous Type") and shorts written specifically to be given away (Like "Thirst"), and lastly some were written for little internet contests (Like "Asmara, Eritrea").
4. Will there ever be even more new scripts?
Maybe. If you've been around long enough, you watched the site go from 20 scripts to 33. There's no reason why I might not blow the dust off a few more old ones, and maybe jot down a few new ones. Short answer: Maybe.
5. I don't have any money. Some of these seem expensive.
I counter that and say, "You might be underestimating your abilities." My baseline is Star Wars Fan Films. I'm sorry, go to YouTube and search for them. It's impressive what you can do with no money. Check this out, and this. I think you can do it.
6. You've inspired me to write, how can I become a better writer?
Read scripts of movies you've seen and haven't seen. Do not read shooting drafts (Shooting drafts have each scene numbered.) You are not creating a finished product. You're creating a framework for a finished movie. You have to read screenplays to see how it's done.

Scripts
Cameron's Aliens
Wendy and Lizzie Molyneux's My Sister is Marrying Douchebag

Books (in this order)
Egri, The Art of Dramatic Writing
Field, screenplay
Goldman, Adventures in the Screen Trade
Snyder, Save the Cat
Snyder, Save the Cat Strikes Back!
Garant & Lennon, Writing Movies for Profit
Those are required, people in Hollywood have read those and use lingo from those books, even if they don't know it. For further recommended reading
McKee, Story
Aristotle, Poetics (Translated by Else)
Gibson, Shakespeare's Game
And that's it. STOP. Writers can get trapped reading books about writing instead of writing. You should be writing. Do it. (Keep reading unproduced screenplays though.)